The present invention relates to a mounting structure of a seatbelt retractor, in which the seatbelt retractor for winding up a seatbelt is mounted on one end of a roof end member, on which a hinge reinforcement for reinforcing a hinge mounting portion for a backdoor is superimposed, on the lateral side of a vehicle.
As for seatbelt devices of vehicles, there are provided a two-point seatbelt device and a three-point seatbelt device. Recently, three-point seatbelt device is usually adopted. The three-point seatbelt device requires a seatbelt retractor which winds up a seatbelt for fixing the upper body of a passenger when the seatbelt is not used.
In a case of a rear seat for three persons, seatbelt retractors for both left and right seats can be fixed to left and right rear pillars, respectively. However, a central seat is separated from the rear pillars. When a seatbelt retractor for the central seat is mounted on the left or right rear pillar, there are difficulties in the layout of a seatbelt. Therefore, there is proposed a unit which fixes a seatbelt retractor to a shoulder portion of a rear seat and houses the seatbelt retractor. According to this unit, however, since the shoulder portion of the rear seat is raised, the appearance thereof is degraded, and seat arrangement is limited.
To solve such a problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a structure in which a mounting bracket of a seatbelt retractor is obliquely provided on one end of a roof end member on one side of a vehicle and an end (rear end) of a roof side rail on the rear side of the vehicle. On the one end of the roof end member, a hinge reinforcement is superimposed, which reinforces a hinge mounting portion for a backdoor.
In this structure, a winding portion of a seatbelt retractor is disposed in a space of the mounting bracket on the front side of the vehicle, that is, a space of a corner portion on the front side of the vehicle, which is defined by the one end of the roof end member and the end (rear end) of the roof side rail. The winding portion is cantilever-supported by the roof end member and the roof side rail through the mounting bracket.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3716400
According to the above-described structure, since the winding portion of the seatbelt retractor is cantilever-supported by the roof end member and so on through the mounting bracket, the supporting of the seatbelt retractor is unstable. When the winding portion of the seatbelt retractor is placed on the central portion of the mounting bracket so as to be mounted and fixed, the winding portion can be stably supported. In this structure, however, a portion of the mounting bracket between both mounting portions thereof (a mounting bracket portion on which the mounting portion is placed) should be bulged further downward so as to secure a housing space for the winding portion. Therefore, since the ceiling of the vehicle is bulged downward, the appearance of the ceiling is degraded.